Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 282 › Conversation 282-010
Nixon & Rogers on Latin American relations and Foreign policy
Wednesday, October 20, 1971 · 2:51 PM–3:00 PM ET · Old Executive Office Building · 8 min
AI Summary
President Nixon and Secretary of State William P. Rogers discuss plans for a diplomatic initiative toward Latin America, emphasizing the need for a high-profile tour to demonstrate commitment. They deliberate on potential policy gestures, such as addressing import surcharges and preferential trade treatment, to provide substance to the visit. Additionally, the conversation touches upon personnel choices for the delegation and assesses the decreasing intensity of the Vietnam War in terms of U.S. casualty rates.
- Latin American relations
- Foreign policy
- Diplomatic strategy
- Trade policy
- Vietnam War
- Personnel management
Audio
Transcript (AI-generated)
This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.
Download transcript (.txt) · JSON data
· Click a timestamp to play from that point; the page address then links to that moment (e.g. #t=125).
Each line starts with a timestamp button; press it to play the audio from that point.
Yeah.
Have you got anything?
Oh, did you go over the Latin thing?
Yeah.
Well, what I was going to mention to you, and I didn't talk at all about the details, but what I had in mind was that, and the only reason that we have to recite it very early, and I'd like to do it, is that when I say early, I mean sometimes, I'll have to block out Bill at least for three days for it.
Or it'll look like, what I mean is three days there with conferences and everything, or otherwise it'll look like none of the heck, not too great.
But what I had in mind was to have a, remember when Eisenhower had his stroke, not a stroke, yeah, no, an ileitis.
And then he went down and he went through, just to prove that he went through and had, so every head of state in Panama and his base is today, so it was hard, but it had a hell of a good effect.
Now my view is that we ought to see that in every head of state, and I think that's family, each must have the same amount of time.
But I think each Congress is gonna have to be an hour.
And so that, if you add that up, that appears to me like almost four days, doesn't it?
Yeah?
Well, what's your, what is your feeling about it?
Well, yeah, we, well, how about, well, how about the, how about the, how about the, how about the surcharge?
We've got to come up with something very specific.
But by that time, we ought to be able to .
I don't know what the hell .
Maybe it has to be not more in the way of money, but I would take the search on it.
Or what about also, remember we were talking about the preferential treatment and so forth?
I see.
Being in a surcharge is kind of like what we did with the Japanese, where all we're doing is we're not giving them anything, we're just taking something away, and we already, we didn't wait a day, and we went for high.
Well, I'm all for stretching the wall a little bit, if necessary, if it's a, if we can stretch it without, without getting into too much trouble, I would say the same.
But, uh, Latin America is so special.
I agree with you, I guess, unless we got something to talk about.
The only, of course, what we will talk about, we're really informing of our trips and what we're going to be doing and so forth.
That, of course, means something.
But on the other hand, we ought to do something for them.
The other thing is a possibility, is there anything else that's been wracking our brains, you know, on Latin America?
Anything else that's been new, or a new relationship or something?
I don't know.
We've been, you know, every time we try to write about that speech on Latin America, we come up with nothing.
Because, you know, it just isn't there.
Well, the good thing about it is
But don't just follow the trick.
But I very much like the idea.
I'd like to go up there.
Sure.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Excellent.
Excellent.
Excellent.
And that gives the impression that women are a woman-to-woman deal.
And, of course, that's a matriarchal society anyway.
Excellent idea.
No, I would not do that.
You know, I personally think it would be a very good idea.
She's going to say the only person she really has to take is Graham, because she's been invited to Graham.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, you got some other thoughts?
Oh, good.
Yeah.
They should think it will.
Now incidentally, I don't know whether this is the case, how will they feel over there about Nick Grover?
There's Mrs. Coons over in the Labor Department.
Or do they like Nick Grover?
Yeah.
I just wondered.
Well, there's one.
Yeah, well, this Mrs. Coons from North Carolina, I mean, a lot for her.
And she's one that occurs to me.
Pancake, of course, is well-grounded, and we went around, and that'd be a totally good idea.
And it'd mean an awful lot to him, you know.
Simeon Booker.
That whole, I don't know,
I've always been a hermit in your house, that's the only thing.
All right, fine.
Yeah, it's fine, fine.
Good, good, good.
You put it right there on the stick.
Yeah.
Great.
You know, another thing, well, that's good the way you laid it out.
They need to hear a few questions.
You know, they always complain.
And, uh, can't thank God who won the vote.
It gets closer each time.
Our Democratic ranks are so totally irresponsible.
Well, I haven't gotten to have Republicans wailing just that.
But the point is to just hand it and to get out in front because they know that the war is coming and we don't agree to come over.
We've got five casualties.
We've not won the prize.
I mean, how is that?
That many are killed on a campus usually.
Really?
It's all over.
It's all over.
We all know it.
They all know the war is over as far as we're concerned.
Nobody is getting down, down, down, down.
The level of activity is extremely low in terms of time.
Of course, this is a low time of year.
There were only 40 a year ago.
Forty compared to five is still a big difference.
Ten, five, six, seven, eight.
NARA Description
On October 20, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:51 pm to 3:00 pm. The Old Executive Office Building taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 282-010 of the White House Tapes.
Nixon Library Finding Aid
Conversation No. 282-10 Date: October 20, 1971 Time: 2:51 pm - 3:00 pm Location: Executive Office Building The President talked with William P. Rogers. [See Conversation No. 12-1]
Also recorded on October 20, 1971
- 282-009 2:47 PM · 8 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 2:47 pm to 2:51 pm.
- 012-001 2:51 PM · 8 min — President Richard M. Nixon and William P. Rogers talked on the telephone from 2:51 pm to 3:00 pm.
- 012-002 3:00 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 3:00 pm and 3:06 pm.
- 282-011 3:00 PM · 7 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:00 pm and 3:06 pm.
- 012-003 3:06 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld talked on the telephone from 3:06 pm to 3:10 pm.
- 282-012 3:06 PM · 5 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Donald H. Rumsfeld met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:06 pm to 3:10 pm.
- 282-013 3:10 PM · 17 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 3:10 pm and 3:15 pm.
- 282-014 3:15 PM · 26 min — President Richard M. Nixon, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, White House operator, and Thelma C. ("Pat") (Ryan) Nixon met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 3:15 pm to 3:42 pm.
Cite this conversation
Conversation 282-010, October 20, 1971. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/282-010 (accessed September 19, 2026).